EE Responsibility Report 2012

8/13/2019 EE Responsibility Report 2012

1/42

BUILDING TRUSTAND SHARINGCONNECTIVITYEE Responsibility Report 2012


2/421

CONTENTS

Introduction from Olaf Swantee, CEO, EE 2

Stakeholder review 4

Our business at a glance 6

About our report 7

Our approach to being responsible 8

Sharing the power of connectivity 9

Building trust 12

1. Improving sustainability in our supply chain 13

2. Embedding responsibility into our culture 14

3. Developing a future workforce 16

4. Reducing our environmental impact 18

5. Keeping children safe 20

6. Clear marketing and pricing 22

7. Supporting customers with disabilities 24

8. Engaging and developing our employees 26

9. Ensuring employee health and wellbeing 28

10. Creating a diverse and inclusive workforce 29

11. Delivering a responsible network 30

12. Investing in our communities 32

Global Reporting Initiative content list and indicators 34

Community investment performance 40


3/42EE Responsibility Report 20122

INTRODUCTION FROM

OLAF SWANTEE,

CEO, EE

EE is the UKs most advanced digital

communications company with over

26 million customers almost half of

Britain using our services every day.

Our vision is to provide the best

network and best service so our

customers trust us with their digital

lives. As the UKs reliance on digital

services and the digital economy grows,

its a vision thats becoming ever more

important and relevant.

Thats why we have embarked on

an ambitious and exciting journey

to build a new 21st century digital

infrastructure for the UK one that is

as important to future trade, travel and

transportation as the roads, railways

and airports are. We are building a

digital backbone for the country that

will allow the people and businesses of

Britain and Northern Ireland to do more,

trade more and communicate more. It

will allow companies to compete with

their UK and global rivals, and will give

individuals more opportunities and

access than ever before.

We have already made good progress

on this journey. Following significant

investment, we now run the UKs

biggest and fastest mobile network in

the UK, alongside our superfast fibre

and broadband services for homes and

offices. We pioneered superfast 4G

mobile services for the UK, and we are

in the process of delivering the fastest

technological rollout ever witnessed in

Britain, with a plan to cover 98% of the

population with superfast 4G by the

end of 2014.

EE is a major employer in some of

the UKs most challenging areas of

unemployment, with over 15,000

people working for us directly andmany thousands more working for our

partners and suppliers. In 2013 we were

ranked 18th in the Sunday Times top 25

Best Big Companies to work for by our

employees our people are proud

to be the industry innovators.

As a business that sits at the heart of

21st century life, it is our ambition and

our responsibility commitment to

be the most trusted communications

company that shares the power of

connectivity with everyone in the UK.

Its a commitment that has been agreed

by EEs Leadership Team, and weve

made significant steps in embedding it

across our business.

This report gives you more detail about

the progress we have made, and weve

structured it around the two strategic

priorities of our commitment building

trust, and sharing connectivity.

Building trustIn 2012 we identified areas we need

to focus on to build trust with our

customers and stakeholders. We

knew we could do better in some of

these areas, so we implemented a

governance structure that ensures

accountability from the top, and a

clear process for reporting on progress.

Areas of focus include child safety,

supporting customers with disabilities

and sustainability in our supply chain.We share our KPIs, current performance

and future targets in this report for

each of these areas, and we look

forward to sharing our progress

in the future.

Within building trust there are two

main areas of focus where we believe

we can make the most significant

social, economic and environmental

impact developing the workforce

of the future, and minimising our

environmental impact.

Developing the workforce of the

future is critical to the future success

of our business, and is an area

where we can make a significant

contribution. There are nearly one

million unemployed 16 to 24 year olds

in the UK, and as a leading British

business, we have a responsibility

to provide skills development and

Welcome to EEs first responsibility report,outlining our approach to running a responsibleand sustainable business.


4/42EE Responsibility Report 2012 3

employment opportunities. To meet this

goal, we have launched an extensive

apprenticeship scheme and work

programme. This not only supports

communities, it also ensures were

building the local skills we need to

provide excellent customer servicenow and in the future.

Secondly, we have put a robust

environmental plan in place that

seeks to significantly reduce our

environmental impact. As part of

our 2bn three-year network and

spectrum investment programme, we

are integrating and optimising our two

mobile networks to improve coverage

for our customers. This programme is

already delivering significant reductions

in our carbon output, which will

continue in future years.

Sharing connectivityDigital exclusion is a serious issue for

the social and economic wellbeing of

the UK. Most of us can think of a friend

or relative who suffers from feelings

of detachment and isolation, often

because theyre not online. There are

ten million people in the UK who arentusing the internet1and six million

more who have limited digital skills2.

Research shows that being online has

significant benefits for people, from

improving educational outcomes

of young people to countering social

isolation and depression among

the elderly3.

As the UKs largest communications

company, we are committed to

making a real difference to this issue.

By building a 21st century digital

infrastructure for the UK, were

ensuring that more people get the

connectivity they deserve to live better

lives. And, were working to inspire

people to get connected and improve

their digital skills.

To support our goal to build digital

skills, last year we became a founder

partner of Go ON UK, a charity that

aims to make the UK the worlds most

digitally literate nation. I sit on the

board, and we are actively involved in

the development and delivery of Go ON

UKs activities.

We are delivering a numberof programmes, as part of our

responsibility programme, to support

the charitys and our businesss

aims. Last year, we launched the

EE Digital Champions programme.

EE Digital Champions are specially

trained EE employees who go into

the community to show people how

the internet can make a difference

to their lives. We expect to have 300

by the end of this year. We have also

focused all our employee volunteering

opportunities around helping people

build digital skills.

Our commitmentTo bring clarity and focus to our

responsibility programme, we have

established three primary goals, to

achieve by 2015, in the areas where

we believe we can make the biggest

positive difference to the sustainability

of Britain:

1. Improve the digital skills

of one million people

2. Recruit 500 apprentices

into our business

3. Reduce our carbon emissions

and waste to landfill by 50%

compared to our 2010 baseline

Thank you for taking an interest in our

company I hope that it has given you

an overview of where we are today, and

what we plan to do in the future.

As a UK company that sits at the head

of 21st century life, we are in a unique

position. Our core service gives people

and businesses the opportunity to do

things that they would otherwise not

have been able to do. We help people

to communicate, to trade and to

access the things they want, on the go,

breaking down the barriers of distance

and geography.

We want to build on this, and our

responsibility plan is critical to

supporting the social, economic andenvironmental wellbeing of Britain.

It is also fundamental to the

sustainability of our business.

Youll find more information in this

report, and I look forward to sharing

our progress with you in future editions.

Olaf Swantee

CEO

EE

April 2013

1Ofcom, The Communications Market, July 2012

2Booz & co Go ON UK report, This Is for Everyone, November 2012

3Booz & co Go ON UK report, This Is for Everyone, November 2012



We asked that our stakeholders share

their views on our approach, our

performance and where we need

to focus in the future. Were taking

their comments on board and will

look to their recommendations as

we develop our approach and deliver

further activity.

We thank all of our stakeholders for

their time and comments and see

this as the first step in developing amore formal stakeholder engagement

plan. Were currently establishing a

stakeholder panel that will meet

across the year to provide ongoing

advice on our responsibility approach.

Alasdair Marks,Corporate Adviser,Business in the CommunityI would like to congratulate EE on the

publication of their first Responsibility

Report. As a young company they

are towards the beginning of their

sustainability journey, but evidently

a lot has already been achieved.

Importantly EEs overarching approach

to responsibility (building trust and

sharing connectivity) is clearly alignedto the company vision and core

business. A focus on core competencies

and the fact that responsibility is

governed and managed at the highest

level will facilitate full integration of

responsible business practice across

the organisation.

It is clear that a risk-based process is in

place to identify priority areas, and EE

understands and is tackling issues that

are material to the company. Reference

is made to the business benefits of

implementing a responsibility strategy

in some areas; I recommend that EEexplores this further to develop a

specific business case for all those

identified. It is also encouraging to

hear about the development of a

more formal stakeholder engagement

strategy as, crucially, this will allow

for regular external evaluation and

assessment of EEs responsibility

activities. Furthermore I welcome

the formation of a stakeholder panel

onto which BITC is proud to have

been invited, along with other experts

in the field of responsible business.

Since transparency and accountability

are cornerstones of building trust,

it is reassuring to see performance

measures and targets throughout.

These require strengthening in places

but it is good to see that EE has

focused on areas where it can make

a real difference in its flagship 2015

goals. It will be important now for EE

to continually measure the impact ontheir communities and benefits back

to the business. It is useful to hear

about EEs immediate plans, but I would

encourage the setting of more formal

short, medium and long-term objectives

and regular progress reports.

This is a solid foundation on which

to build. As their strategy evolves, EE

will also need to respond to emerging

global challenges and set more

stretching, long-term goals. Through

sharing connectivity and building

digital skills, EE has the potential to

make their unique contribution tothe 9 Billion Challenge quality and

sustainable lives for the 9 billion people

forecast to be living on this planet by

2050. We look forward to supporting

them on this exciting journey.

Baroness Lane-Fox,Chair, Go ON UKEEs first Responsibility Report takes an

innovative approach to building trust

with its customers and is remarkable

for its ambition to share the benefits

of connectivity by improving the digital

skills of a million people.

EE is a founder partner of Go ON UK,

the UKs digital skills alliance, and

were amongst the first organisations

to sign up to the Digital Skills Charterthat we launched in 2012. Its great

that EE are planning to put that

commitment into practice, developing

We invited key stakeholders to review ourreport and provide a critique of our approach,activity and future plans.

STAKEHOLDER

REVIEW


6/425

new content and tools to encourage

people and businesses to improve their

digital skills and recruiting 300 EE

Digital Champions to take technology

to non users on the high street. I

am also pleased to see EE making a

commitment to disability awarenesstraining for 60% of staff by the end

of 2013.

EEs approach is a good balance

between learning from and working

with other partners and being

clear about the organisations own

commitments. The report is generally

strong on how EE will measure its

priority commitments. I am therefore

confident that EE will apply the same

rigour to measuring progress on its

digital skills commitment. As part of

that, and as Go ON UK and EEs plans

progress, I hope that EE can commit

to a specific target for the number of

people and businesses it will help in the

Go ON UK pathfinder region in 2013-14.

I congratulate EE; all of us at Go ON

UK are looking forward to working with

Olaf and his team to deliver the digital

skills commitment.

Hugh Jones,Managing Director,Advisory ServicesCarbon TrustSuccessful corporate responsibility

programmes address pressing societal

issues, link to core business strategy

and resonate with major stakeholders.

EEs commitment to be the most

trusted communications company that

shares the power of connectivity with

everyone in the UK ticks all three boxes.

As the leading mobile network in the

UK with 26 million customers and a 4G

network that will extend to 98% of the

population by 2014, EE has the chance

to use its scale to drive real change

across the UK. Its goal to reduce its

carbon emissions and waste by 50%

by 2015 against its 2010 baseline is

ambitious and establishes EE as a

genuine sustainability leader. By setting

an absolute target, EE has ensured itwill deliver reductions in real terms,

and data from 2012 shows it is already

making significant progress.

EEs 50% reduction goal is a great

start, but is only the tip of the iceberg

of what it can achieve. We would

like to see EE broaden its ambition

to address sustainability beyond its

own operations. Examples include

working with its suppliers to reduce

supply chain emissions; and developing

sustainable products and services

that enable customers to reduce

their energy consumption and lead

more sustainable lifestyles. Grasping

these opportunities has the potential

to drive carbon reductions far in

excess of its ambitious internal goals.

Doing so would establish EE firmly in

the vanguard of the UKs move to a

sustainable, low carbon economy.

Iain McKenzie,Member of Parliamentfor InverclydeI welcome this opportunity to review

this report and congratulate EE on

their plans to build upon the trust

already established while enhancing

connectivity across the UK in 2013

and beyond. I will focus my review

commentary on the areas of expertise

and interest as a Member of the

UK Parliament.

Connecting the UK has never been

a more important goal. When many

turn to online solutions for everything

from shopping to information and

communication, EEs drive to connect

people and businesses across the

country is vital. Greater connectivity

throughout the country will enable us

to become the most digitally capable

nation in Europe.

EEs Digital Champion programme

encourages employees to reach out

beyond their desks into the community.

This helps break down the generational

imbalance of those now engaging in

the digital world. Improving the digital

skills of one million people across theUK is a challenging goal. I would like to

see EE work with local education

centres to encourage participants into

certificated training.

EEs commitment to offering 500

apprenticeships by 2015 displays their

commitment to youth employment.

The demand for work from young

people in Inverclyde, who would like

to pursue a career and develop skills

at the same time, has never been

greater. Without businesses like EE

offering apprenticeship places and

employment opportunities, tackling

youth unemployment in the long-term

becomes increasingly difficult. I hope

that EE will extend their apprenticeship

programme beyond 2015, and commit

to taking on more apprentices.

As an employer, EE has identified the

need to constantly engage and developits employees. Vitality, enthusiasm and

commitment to the job are increasingly

required skills which are evident when

I visit the EE contact centre in

my constituency.

I thank EE for the opportunity to review

this document and believe it sets out

their business direction.



> EE runs the EE, Orange and

T-Mobile brands in the UK

> We have 26 million customers

across the UK

> We have more than 600 stores,

in over 200 towns and cities across

the UK, that sell our brands

> Group revenue for the year was

6.7 billion. Adjusted EBITDA,which excludes restructuring costs,

brand and management fees, was

1,410 million. The loss after tax for

the year ended 31 December 2012

was 191 million

> Were investing 2bn from 2012-

2014 on network infrastructure

and spectrum to improve

connectivity across the UK

> Our head office sites are in

London, Hatfield and Bristol

and our contact centres are

in Darlington, North Tyneside,

Doxford, Merthyr Tydfil, Greenock

and Plymouth

> We are the biggest private sector

employer in a number of our

contact centre locations, including

Merthyr Tydfil and Darlington.

Four of our contact centres are in

regions where unemployment is

above the national average

> At the end of 2012, our network

had 25,035 network sites across

the UK

> We have 15,367 employees

(permanent and fixed term

employees as at 31 December

2012). This is made up of 55% male

and 45% female employees. 1,883

male employees and 2,707 female

employees work part-time. Our

Senior Management Team is made

up of 212 males and 110 females

> EE is a 50:50 joint venture

between France Telecom-Orange

and Deutsche Telekom

> In 2012 we won numerous

awards including:

Mobile News Awards:

Industry Personality of

the Year for Olaf Swantee

European Call Centre

& Customer Service Awards:

Employer of the year for Merthyr

Contact Centre

Chartered Institute of

Purchasing and Supply Awards:

Best Cross Functional

Teamwork project

International Business Awards:

Gold winner for Support Team

of the Year and Silver for Support

Department of the Year

Guardian Awards

or Digital Innovation:

Best New App for Do Some Good

EE is the most advanced digital communicationscompany in Britain, providing mobile and fixed-lineservices to 26 million customers.

OUR BUSINESS

AT A GLANCE



Our report aims to provide detailed

information on our responsibility

strategy, our programmes and our

future ambitions. We have included

what we have planned for 2013 and,

where possible, demonstrated our

performance and published targets.

As part of the assurance of this report,

we asked a number of key stakeholders

to review it as is detailed on page 4.

We plan to publish responsibility

reports annually.

The scope of the report covers 2012,

spanning EEs entire operation in

the UK. We cover how we influence

and manage our suppliers but we

dont report specifically on their

performance. Our environmental

performance, which can be found on

page 18, covers all sites where we have

operational control. It doesnt include

masts that are shared with another

telecoms operator where we are not

the main operator or retail stores

that are part of a larger site that we

dont manage.

The issues that we cover in the report

are those that we identified as material

during the development of our strategy.

They are the ones in which our

business and stakeholders are

most interested.

This report is aligned to the Global

Reporting Initiative Framework 3.1, level

B and includes relevant sector-specific

indicators from the Telecoms Sector

Supplement. You can find our GRIIndex information on page 34 towards

the end of this report. We also provide

information on our community impact

in page 40, following the London

Benchmarking Group measurement

tool for community investment.

If you have any questions about this

report or would like to comment

on its contents, please contact

[email protected].

EEs first Responsibility Report covers our 2012activity and future plans. Its is aligned to theGlobal Reporting Initiative Framework.

ABOUT OUR

REPORT



The launch of the EE brand was an

opportunity for us to take a fresh

look at our responsibility strategy.

We assessed our performance, our

potential risks and the areas where

we can make a difference. From this

we developed our commitment which

divides in to two themes: sharing

connectivity and building trust. We

have structured our report around

these two areas.

Weve set three goals in the areas

where we believe we can make the

biggest positive difference to Britain.

By 2015 we will:

1. Improve the digital skills

of one million people

2. Recruit 500 apprentices

into our business

3. Reduce our carbon emissions

and waste landfill by 50%

against our 2010 baseline

We also have a series of KPIs and

targets for each of our responsibility

issue areas which we share in the

building trust section.

Management and governanceResponsibility at EE is managed from

the top and responsibility matters are

integrated in the companys regular

Leadership Team meetings as necessary.

Stephen Harris, Chief of Staff, EE,

represents responsibility on the

Leadership Team and oversees the

companys responsibility performance.

Activity is supported by a dedicated

Responsibility Team which reportsin to the Head of Corporate and Financial

Affairs. Responsibility KPIs have been

entered in to EEs central dashboard that

tracks overall performance.

Weve signed up to a number of

voluntary codes including the Social

Mobility Business Compact and the

Mobile Operators Ten Commitments.

Our EE codes of practice are listed on

our website www.explore.ee.co.uk/

regulatory. Examples of EE policies that

govern our responsibility activity include

our Safety and Sustainability policy,

our Suppliers Ethical Charter and our

Code of Conduct. We are also members

of the Global e-Sustainability Initiative,

Business in the Community, the London

Benchmarking Group, the Internet

Watch Foundation, the UK Council for

Child Internet Safety and the Mobile

Operators Association.

We have a responsibility management

system that documents this process

and makes sure we maintain a

transparent and rigorous approach

to responsibility management.

Responsibility risks are also reviewed

by the Risk Team and if the risk meets

the central company criteria, it is added

to the companys business risk register.

We plan to review our responsibility

approach on an annual basis to make

sure it aligns with our business andmeets our stakeholders expectations.

Stakeholder engagementWe communicate with our key

stakeholders every day. These include

the Government, customers and

employees. Across 2012 we have been

in constant dialogue with these groups

but we also identified the need for a

more formal engagement process. The

first stage of this was to invite four

of our key stakeholders to review our

report. You can read the comments

from our stakeholders on page 4.

We are now working on a stakeholder

engagement plan that will map out who

our most important stakeholders are

and outline how we will communicate

and work with them. Following this

we will establish a stakeholder panel,

which will meet across 2013 to provide

strategic advice on our responsibilityapproach and the activity we deliver.

We want to be the most trusted communicationscompany that shares the power of connectivitywith everyone in the UK.

OUR APPROACH

TO BEING RESPONSIBLE



In many ways, the UK is a leading digital

nation were twice as likely as the

OECD average to buy goods online and

weve adopted smartphones faster

than any other European nation. But

the reality is millions of people in the

UK, from all walks of life, arent online.

The current figure stands at ten million

adults not using the internet4and a

further six million who lack the basic

online skills5they need to get the most

out of being online.

Digital exclusion is a massive social and

economic issue that leaves people at

risk of being left out of modern society.

From the fun stuff like being able to

Skype your grandchildren, to the useful

stuff like shopping and banking online.

But its not just about the benefits;

its about the disadvantages of not

being online.

Research shows being connected

improves educational outcomes of

young people and can play a major

role in countering social isolation and

depression among the elderly one

study found regular internet usage by

people over age 50 reduced depression

by up to 28%. Its also predicted that

90% of all jobs will require ICT skills

by 2015. More information on the

extensive social and economic benefits

of digitalisation can be found in This

Is for Everyone. The Case for Universal

Digitisation, a report we supported

through our Go ON UK partnership.

Lack of digital capability isnt just an

issue for individuals. Only a third of

small-to-medium-sized companies have

a digital presence and just 14% sell their

products online. But the more digitally

enabled a company is, the faster it

tends to grow.

We believe being connected offers

endless benefits, which is why were

committed to helping everyone get

online and make the most of it. In

fact we want to improve the digital

skills of one million people beyond

the thousands we help everyday as

business as usual. Weve set this as

one of our flagship goals.

Were at the beginning of our journey to

meet this goal. Below, we share some of

the activity were delivering and plan to

deliver to meet it.

Go ON UK partnershipTo support our commitment to building

digital skills, we are a founder partner

of the charity Go ON UK, a cross-sector

organisation aimed at making the

UK the worlds most digitally capable

nation. EE is the only UK mobile

operator among the eight founder

partners, which include the BBC,

Lloyds Banking Group, the Post Office

and Age UK.

Our CEO, Olaf Swantee, is a member of

the Go ON UK Board which is headed

up by Baroness Lane-Fox. We also have

a representative on the Go ON UK

Operations Board, which inputs in to

the development and delivery of Go ON

UK strategy and programmes.

We are supporting Go ON UK through

a range of activity, and have also

committed to Go ON UKs Digital Skills

Charter. You can read more about Go

ON UK at www.go-on.co.uk.

We want to improve the digital skills of

one million people in Britain by 2015.

SHARING THE POWER

OF CONNECTIVITY

4Ofcom, The Communications Market, July 20125Booz & co Go ON UK report, This Is for Everyone, November 2012

Go ON UK Digital

Skills Charter:

> Everyone in the UK should have

the Basic Online Skills to enjoy

the full benefits of the web

> Communities who dont have

the skills to fully enjoy the

benefits of the internet should

not be left behind

> Everyone deserves world-class

digital services that meet their

needs and are useable by all



EE Digital ChampionsEE Digital Champions are employees

who are specially trained to go out in

to the community and inspire people

to give the internet a go. Research

shows that a lack of interest in the

internet and a feeling of its not for

me is one of the biggest obstacles

to getting online our programme

addresses this.

Through informal, community-basedsessions, our champions share how the

internet can benefit the individuals.

The sessions arent about technical

training or computer skills. Instead our

champions explore peoples passions

and interests and use tablet devices

to show them how the internet can

be relevant to them. The champions

provide all participants with a simple

booklet that supports the session and

provides them with tips about getting

online and information about what the

internet offers.

We are delivering the programme in

partnership with UK Online Centres, a

network of 3,800 centres which deliver

training to improve internet skills. In

2012 we trained 35 champions and

by the end of 2013 we intend to have

300 active champions. Through ourchampions we plan to deliver over 500

community sessions in 2013, meaning

well reach out to and inspire thousands

of people across the UK.

Employee volunteeringAs well as inspiring people to get

online we want to help people build

their digital skills we do this through

volunteering. All the volunteering

opportunities we organise and promote

to our employees have a digital skills

element to them.

For example, spending time with guests

from Age UK at an office-based Techy

Tea Party to help elderly people with

their technical challenges. Or visiting a

local community centre to help people

with their online CV writing skills. In

2012 over 850 employees volunteered,

giving 5,571 hours of their time. You

can read more about our volunteeringprogramme on page 32.

Digital Livingonline resourcesWeve created pages on the EE website

to help our customers live safe and

rewarding digital lives. The pages

provide advice, films and activity guides

on child safety, e-security and wise

social networking. We also encourage

visitors to think about the people they

know who arent online and provide

them with tools to help motivate their

friends and family to get connected.Tools include an e-safety film for parents

and a number of worksheets that focus

around the benefits of being online.

These pages can be found at

www.ee.co.uk/digital-living.

Future plansWere really proud of what weve

achieved in 2012 but we know were

just scratching the surface of the

difference we can make. In 2013, were

growing our EE Digital Champions

and volunteering programmes and

promoting our web pages through

our marketing channels. Well also

be launching new initiatives that will

increase our reach and help improve

more digital skills:

> In 2013 were rolling out our EE

Digital Champions programme to

a number of our larger retail stores.The ambition is that members

Libby Bowker,Digital Champion

I had a fabulous time delivering

a session in Southbank,

Middlesbrough. I met with a

group of nine people whose ages

ranged from 69-82 who had little

or no experience accessing the

internet. By the end of the session

they had had a go on You Tube

and Wikipedia. It was a brilliant

experience, they were amazed with

what was available and how easy itwas to access the web.



of the community will be invited

in to the retail store where the

champion will deliver the sessions

> We plan to launch a platform for

our small and medium business

customers that gives them access

to a range of digital technology

and tools and helps them develop

the skills they need to build a

successful business

> Well also continue to support

Go ON UK and the activity it

delivers across 2013

Delivering the UK aworld-class networkAs well as providing people with the

motivation and skills they need to get

connected its also essential that we

have a network that delivers a great

customer experience. This is especially

important for people who may be

experiencing mobile connectivity for

the first time.

Our 3G network covers 98% of the UK

population and in 2011 we made the

commitment to deliver 4G to the UK.

We were given the approval to do so

in August 2012. Before this, the UK

was falling behind a number of our

European and global counterparts

because of a lack of 4G infrastructure.4G is approximately five to ten times

faster than 3G, enabling customers to

access the web in an instant, watch

live TV on mobiles without buffering

and make high quality video calls on

the move.

By the end of 2012, we had already

delivered superfast mobile connectivity

to 18 cities and 20 million people, and

well reach 98% of the UK population by

the end of 2014. Already this has been

the fastest rollout of mobile technologyever undertaken, meaning Britain will

have the network infrastructure

it deserves.

4G doesnt just offer superfast

connectivity on the move. It also

enables people living in rural areas,

who have previously suffered from

slow broadband speeds, to benefit

from high-speed broadband for the

first time.

Case studyBringing 4G to rural Cumbria

As part of the preparation for the

national launch, EE delivered a live

4G customer trial in rural Cumbria,

with several local businesses

experiencing the benefits of faster

and more reliable mobile broadband.Businesses and consumers in the

Threlkeld area tested 4G using both

dongles and routers and trialists

achieved speeds of 20+Mbps. The

area was selected as the location for

the trial as it currently has insufficient

or unreliable broadband and many of

the trialists used the 4G connection

as a home fixed-replacement service.

Corin Burdon, a small business owner

and 4G trialist said: The benefits tomy business have been immediately

noticeable with a large increase in

consistent and useable connection

speeds, which are typically three to

four times faster than my existing

landline broadband. On several

occasions, file transfers I wouldhave left overnight on my traditional

broadband connection have been

accomplished easily and quickly

In March 2013, EE announced 4G

coverage would be made available

across a 100 square mile area in

Cumbria, offering mobile and fixed-

replacement services to customers

in the Northern Fells from mid-2013.

This service will offer a new solution

to those who are unlikely to be evercovered by fibre broadband.



Below we share the responsibility

areas that we are focusing on and

the process we used to identify these

issues. In the following sections

we provide detail on our 2012

performance and 2013 activity

and targets for each area.

Issue prioritisationand managementWe identified our responsibility issues

through a structured assessmentprocess. We created a list that included

all potential issues our business faces

from a responsibility point of view. We

then categorised these issues as low,

medium or high risk depending on

the likelihood of the issue occurring,

and the effect it would have on

our customers, employees, broader

stakeholders, reputation, and any legal

or regulatory requirements. We then

mapped this against our performance

on the issue.

Our priority issues are the ones

where the risk is high and our

performance is low. The additional

responsible business areas are other

issues that we manage as we recognise

these areas are key to building a

responsible business.

Each priority issue has a Chief sponsor

who is responsible for that issue. In2012 each Chief assigned an issue lead

in their team who, together with the

Responsibility Team, agreed an action plan

and KPIs to improve performance around

that issue. The Responsibility Team meet

with these individuals on a regular basis

and deliver a performance report to the

Chief of Staff on a quarterly basis.

BUILDING

TRUST

Were focusing on the areas that matter most to ourcustomers, employees, communities and business.

Priority issues for EE KPI summary

1. Improving sustainabilityin our supply chain

% of highest risk supplierswith approved plans

2. Embedding responsibility

into our culture Score in BITC CR Index

3. Developing a future workforce Number of apprenticeships recruited

4. Reducing our environmentalimpact

Carbon reduction

Waste to landfill reduction

5. Keeping children safe No. of communication touchpoints

messages delivered through

6. Clear marketing and pricing No. of pay monthly complaints

No. of ASA investigations

7. Supporting customerswith disabilities % of frontline employees trained

Additional responsible business areas KPI summary

8. Engaging and developingour employees

Employee net promoter score

9. Ensuring employee healthand wellbeing

Level of employee absenteeism

10. Creating a diverse andinclusive workforce

% of people managers trained

11. Delivering a responsible network Response rate to enquiries

12. Investing in our communities Participation in volunteering

and fundraising

Our responsibility issues and KPIs



Ensuring an ethical supply chain is

a priority to priority issue sponsored by

Neal Milsom our Chief Financial Officer.

Our Suppliers Ethical Charter, which

is part of our suppliers contract with

us, complies with internationally

recognised norms, directives and

standards including the International

Labour Organisation (ILO), OECD, the

Global Compact and the Bribery Act

2010. It has been ratified by our CEO

and it is included as a condition in our

suppliers contracts with us.

Our 2012 activityIn 2012, we published our Suppliers

Ethical Charter on our responsibility

website to share that this is important

to us as a business and something thatwe expect from our suppliers. We also

implemented a number of processes

and procedures to support it.

For example we ask questions

regarding responsibility issues in a

pre-qualification questionnaire.

When the Procurement Team is working

with the EE Management Team on

the specifications for a request for

tender, there is always discussion on

how to eliminate the social, ethical and

environmental risks, such as where it is

procured, and what is being specified.

Responsibility issues are always

included in evaluation of tenders.

We have an anti-bribery online training

module that all of the Procurement

Team are required to take. We also

have a policy on Supplier Engagement

with regards to bribery that meets

the Bribery legislation of 2010. This is

monitored monthly via a survey to the

Procurement Team for them to declare

any gifts/hospitality etc received and

confirm appropriate authorisation.

In 2012 we also set about identifying

the highest risk suppliers in our supply

chain. We assessed the social, ethical

and environmental risks typically

involved in the production of any

products we procure, and also the level

of governance within the country for

such issues. From this, we identified 50

high risk suppliers who we then auditedagainst a number of ethical, social

and environmental indicators. From

this audit we were able to prioritise a

number of suppliers as highest risk

i.e. they were lacking transparency

or didnt have an ethical trade

policy in place.

We also became a member of GeSI

the Global e-Sustainability Initiative and

will be working with them, through their

working groups to make sure we are an

active voice on e-sustainability.

Our 2013 activityOur priority for 2013 is to work with

those we identified as highest risk

to support them in developing their

own ethical and environmental

improvement plans.

We will also audit our top 100 high risk

suppliers, as we did with our top 50

suppliers in 2012, and work with those

who are prioritised as the highest risk

to create improvement plans.

We will also be training all procurement

employees through specially designed

ethical procurement, as part of the

Chief Finance Officer Academy which

has been developed in partnership

with HR.

Were committed to conducting business to the highestpossible ethical standards and work with our suppliers

to ensure they support our principles.

1. IMPROVING SUSTAINABILITY

IN OUR SUPPLY CHAIN

Our performance

What were measuring KPI 2012 performance 2013 target

Extent to which we work with

suppliers to drive social andethical improvements

% of highest risk suppliers who haveEE approved improvement plans

N/A newinitiative

100%



Being a responsible business needs to

be part of who we are as a company

and part of the culture of our

organisation. Getting the cultural piece

right is key to the success of the rest of

our responsibility activity and its one

of our priority issues, sponsored by Ralf

Brandmeier, our Chief Performance

Officer. We want everyone in our

organisation to play a role in helping

us to be more responsible and we

need to make sure the processes and

governance are in place to help.

Governance and processIn 2012, we delivered a number of

things to make sure we are managing

responsibility from the core of

our business:

> We participated in the Business

in the Community Corporate

Responsibility Index in 2011 as a

silent submission and used the

recommendation report that BITC

supplied to drive improvements.

We had significant room for

improvement in the Integration

section of the survey and focused

on delivering the recommendations

BITC made in this area. We

participated again in 2012 and

were pleased to achieve a Silver

ranking and a score of 82%

> As highlighted in this report,

we identified seven priority

responsibility issues. Each issue

has a Chief sponsor, an agreed

action plan and KPIs which can

be found in this report. The

agreed KPIs for each issue have

been entered into the company

performance dashboard that tracks

overall performance, meaning we

are managing our responsibility

performance as part of our overall

company performance

> We integrated responsible

behaviour messages into our EE

values that were launched in

early 2013. For example, our value

Be Clear asks our people to be

open and honest and to act withintegrity. It encourages employees

to build trust and to think about

how individual tasks make a

difference to the bigger picture

> We are being more transparent

about our activity and performance

through our responsibility website

and the publication of our first

Responsibility Report

In 2013, we will integrate responsibility

considerations in to our proposition

development process and continue

to report progress to the leadership

team. We will also review the 2012

recommendation report following the

BITC Corporate Responsibility Index

results and implement the changes

as required.

Integration in to theemployee journeyTo build a responsible culture, its key

that our employees know what it means

to them and that they feel enabled to

make the right decision. In addition

to building responsibility into our

employee values and communication,

we are embedding responsibility into

every step of the employee journey.

We started this in 2012 and will be

building on it in 2013. Here are some

examples of how:

> Joining EE

Weve got information about

being responsible on our corporate

and careers web pages, so

potential employees can readabout our commitment

For new joiners, we include

information on our responsibility

commitment in our Welcome Pack

which goes out to all new starters

as part of our onboarding process.

In 2013, were making sure this is

also part of our induction training

2. EMBEDDING RESPONSIBILITY

INTO OUR CULTURE

We want to enable everyone in our organisation toplay a role in helping us be more responsible.



> Day-to-day

We have responsibility pages

on our intranet that enable our

employees to find out about

our activity and get involved in

volunteering and fundraising

In 2012, we launched Splash

EEs own social media site.

We have EE Digital Champions,

volunteering and fundraising

groups where we share the

latest news and opportunities

We work closely with EEs

Engagement Champion network,

which you can read more about

in the Employee Engagement

and Training section. TheResponsibility Team team meets

with the Engagement Champions

and presents at the groups events

to make sure our engagement

representatives are aware of

our responsibility commitment

Responsibility messaging is

included in a number of our

internal documents including

our Safety and Sustainability

guides for employees and

managers and our Code

of Conduct

We regularly deliver

communications around our

responsibility activity through our

Splash pages, and our internal

communication channels and

events. For example, we held EE

Live a brand experience event for

our employees that pre-launch

gave employees a taste of what the

EE brand was about. At this event,

Olaf Swantee, CEO, spoke about

our responsibility commitmentto all employees. For significant

activity, such as announcing our

partnership with the charity Go ON

UK, employees receive an email

from Olaf about the news

We have a number of e-learning

modules that cover responsibility

issues including Diversity,

Health and Safety and Bribery

and Corruption

Our performance


Performance in how the businessmanages responsibility, using anexternal public benchmark

Score in Business in the CommunityCorporate Responsibilty Index 2012

53%Target 70%

Achieved 82%



There are nearly one million unemployed

16-24 year olds in the UK. Thats 20%

of young people. We believe we have

a responsibility to support them by

providing skills development and

employment opportunities.

Weve worked with our local

communities and education

authorities to identify how we can

provide opportunities. Weve developed

a number of initiatives including an

apprentice scheme, a work inspiration

programme, and an EE Fast Track

programme to make sure were

helping to build the workforce of the

future. Weve also signed up to the

Governments Social Mobility

Business Compact.

Not only should this help young people,

but it also enables us to recruit the best

talent and develop the best people for

our workforce safeguarding for now

and the future.

This is a priority issue sponsored by our

Chief of HR, Francoise Clemes.

Our 2012 activityApprentice scheme

We launched our apprenticeship

scheme in our Customer Team in early

2012 and by the end of the year had

recruited 101 apprentices on to 15

month placements in three of our six

contact centres. Around 90% of the

apprentices are under 22 and 24 of

them are aged 16 and 17. The majority

of our contact centre sites are in areas

where the percentage of young people

on Jobseekers Allowance is above the

national average of 7%. For example:in North Tyneside it stands at 15%,

so we are directly addressing

youth unemployment.

We chose local colleges as the

training providers because of the

quality of their service and the level

of support they offer the apprentices.

All apprentices in England spend one

day per fortnight in college studying

for a Contact Centre Operations Level

2 national qualification and receive a

salary significantly above the national

apprenticeship minimum wage.

Applicants arent required to have any

qualifications. Instead, we recruit

based on their potential, skills and

personal qualities.

The results so far are incredibly

positive. The performance of the 2012

apprentices is comparable to existing

agents and they are even performing

above average on some metrics.At the end of their 15 month

placement, the vast majority who

complete and pass their apprenticeship

will be offered employment.

Work inspiration

We run a range of work inspiration

programmes across our sites ranging

from structured eight week work

experience programmes to day-long

visits from students to our

contact centres.

For example across our contact centre

sites were inspiring young people to

get in to work through our Business

Basics Coaches. Our employees offer a

range of support to help young people

learn more about the world of work.

For example they run mock interviews

with students in secondary schools to

give them valuable experience for when

they start job hunting.

Were committed to providing opportunities to youngpeople to ensure were building skills and developing

the best talent.

3. DEVELOPING THE

WORKFORCE OF THE FUTURE

James Newman,Apprentice, EE Customer Team

The structured learning of an

apprenticeship and being part of a

close-knit team has been great for

me. Having a routine has helped

me manage my time and money

and Im constantly learning newskills that help me both inside and

outside of work. The thing I enjoy

most about the job is the level of

support that we receive, not only

our direct line of support, but the

whole community.

My best moment so far was in

the first few weeks of actually

talking to customers on the

phone, I received an achievement

award for Best in that moment.

I was presented with a little gift

and a certificate by our Head of

Site. Its been a great boost to my

confidence and Im excited about

my future here at EE and where the

scheme can take my career.



EE Fast Track

We realise that some of our employees

may want to apply for other internal

jobs but dont have the traditional

educational requirements normally

needed. As a response to this, weve

developed the EE Fast Track scheme. It

gives our current employees the chance

to work in different functions and learn

about different bits of the business.

During the structured, two-year

programme, theyll complete up to four

six-month placements in their chosen

business area.

There are currently ten individuals

participating in the scheme who went

through a rigorous application process

to get a place.

Our 2013 activityFollowing the success of the

apprenticeship trial, were providing

500 apprenticeships by 2015 across

the business. We will achieve this by

extending the scheme across all our

contact centre sites and launching an

apprenticeship scheme in retail, where

we will take on 100 apprentices by the

end of 2013.

Well also be launching an EE graduate

scheme and we have committed to

supporting Plotr, the new Government-

supported careers portal, which is set

to launch this year. Plotr will provide

advice and opportunities to help young

people build a career. It will include

geo-mapping for job searches and

career zones, which will showcase thewhole young talent programme.

We will also continue to build our

relationship with local schools. For

example: members of our HR team

will be supporting ten week-long

work experience placements at our

Bristol office for students from a local

secondary school.

In 2013, well be building on Business

Basics Coaches initiative across our

contact centre sites.

EE is signed up to theGovernments Social MobilityBusiness Compact to:

> Support communities

and local schools

> Improve skills and create jobs

by providing opportunities for

all young people to get a footon the ladder

> Improve quality of life and

wellbeing by recruiting

openly and fairly, ensuring

non-discrimination

Our performance

Future workforce measure KPI 2012 performance 2013 target

Commitment in supportingwork employment in Britain

Number of apprenticeships incustomer and retail team

101 apprenticesin customer team

250 in customerteam, 100 in retail



Were focusing on reducing our impact

through absolute carbon reduction

and by reducing the waste we send

to landfill.

As part of our network investment

programme, we are integrating and

optimising our two mobile networks.

This will result in significant reductions

in our energy use, estimated at

approximately 79,000 tonnes of CO2,

or 150,000 Mwh, across the three

years. This programme is already

delivering significant reductions in our

carbon footprint, and these reductions

will increase in future years.

As highlighted in the opening section

of this report, our environment target

is to reduce our carbon emissionsand waste to landfill by 50% against

our 2010 baseline.

Reducing ourcarbon footprintOur 2012 activity

In 2012 we reduced our energy

consumption by 37,843,159 Kwh,

resulting in a 7.59% reduction in our

energy use. Our total carbon emissions*

for 2012 were 245,544 tonnes of

CO2e, which was a 5.19% reduction.

This followed a 7.80% reduction in

carbon emissions in 2011. The ongoing

integration of our two legacy networks,

T-Mobile UK and Orange UK, played a

significant part in these reductions.

This achievement was recognised in

the Governments Carbon Reduction

Commitment performance league table,

a public scheme that all organisations

who meet a set qualification criteriaare obliged to participate in. We

jumped from last place amongst mobile

operators in 2011 to first place in 2012.

We also started the upgrade of all our

2G and 3G network equipment, some

of which had been in place for more

than 15 years. With the advance of

technology and the efforts of network

manufacturers, the new equipment is

up to 40% more efficient than

the existing kit and so uses a lot

less energy.

During this restructuring, we

considered the environmental impact

of the redundant equipment and

the environmental quality of the

land left once the sites had been

decommissioned. Old equipment is

redeployed via our recycling partner

and is often used in emerging marketsto help bridge the digital divide.

Throughout 2012, we continued

to work to reduce our energy

consumption in our office and contact

centre sites. Weve managed to reduce

our emissions from this area of our

business by almost 7%. This has been

achieved by consolidation within

the buildings and investment in

new equipment as part of

building upgrades.

Our long-term challenge to sustaining

carbon reduction is the growth of the

business. As more customers send more

data across our network, our energy

use will increase. In the short term we

have set an absolute carbon reduction

target, rather than a one related to the

growth of the company. This ensures

we are reducing the amount of carbon

we emit in real terms. However longerterm we will need to look at more

innovative energy solutions.

We currently source our energy via

a green tariff to show our corporate

support for renewable energy in the UK.

As recommended by standard carbon

reporting this does not count towards

our carbon emission reductions.

Our 2013 activity

Our 2013 target is to reduce our CO2

emissions by a further 10%. We are

achieving this through further network

consolidation and by continuing the

refresh of our 2G and 3G equipment.

We are continuing to monitor our

energy use on the network with smart

monitors which enable us to identify

faulty sites that are using too much

power. All of our buildings have half-

hourly meters, and again the building

management systems will identify anyfaults. We are continuing our review

of corporate estate, powering down

buildings that are not in use and

also carrying out upgrade works to

air conditioning which will drive

energy efficiency.

We will also be using the Carbon

Trusts carbon footprinting tool, which

will enable us to calculate the carbon

footprint of our customers making a 1

minute voice call and downloading 1MB

of data. This will enable us compare

our efficiency with other operators and

share the results with our customers

so they can understand the effect

of using our network.

Were determined to reduce our environmentalfootprint and help our customers to do the same.

4. REDUCING OUR

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT



Reducing wasteIn the last few years, we have focused

on reducing the amount of waste

created in our corporate offices;

ensuring we reduce the amount

of waste which ends up in landfill.

We have worked with our wastemanagement contractors to look at

our waste streams and minimise the

elements that end up in landfill. We

have implemented a mixed recycling

service across our corporate and

contact centre sites to cover most

of the materials we generate.

Our 2012 activity

We have markedly improved the level

at which we divert waste from landfill

through recycling. A number of our

sites, including Hatfield, Greenock

and Doxford, have been zero landfill

since November 2009. This has been

achieved through a mixture of reuse,

recycling and incineration for energy

recovery. We took the best practices

from these sites and, through the

consolidation of all waste contracts

to one single supplier, made all our

corporate sites operate in the same

way. We have installed better recyclingbins and signage in a number of our

sites, educated the staff and managers

and improved how we monitor the

recycling levels of each bin.

Our 2013 activity

We are working to increase our recovery

and recycling rate to 85% through

consistent use of our recycling systems

and by working with our suppliers to

identify non-landfill opportunities for any

residual waste. Were improving recycling

in our retail stores and advancing the

quality of our recycling data.

What were doingfor our customersWe offer SIM-only packages for

customers who want to keep their

phones for longer. To reduce the

environmental impact of redundant

mobile phones, we offer a mobilerecycling scheme for our customers,

which enables them to get cash

for their old mobile phones. Where

possible, our recycling partner will

refurbished the phone and send it to

a network of worldwide distributors and

several charities.

Excessive product packaging is of

concern to customers and our business.

Were looking to minimise its use; whilst

balancing the need for security and

protecting the product.

In 2012, we built a tool to measure the

carbon footprint of products as they

are transported from the production

factory in our supply chain, to our

distribution centre in the UK. The

tool looks at packaging, transport and

location. In 2013, we are using thistool to highlight products that have

a high carbon footprint during this

phase of their lifecycle, often because

of the packaging size of material. This

information can then be used to drive

improvements in packaging size in

partnership with manufacturers.

As shared above we are we are

launching a carbon footprinting tool

that will enable customers to better

understand the environmental impact

of their phone use.

Were also working with manufacturers

to remove chargers from the box. The

majority of products use the same

charger so its likely customers will

already own it. Removing the charger

from the box means we can reduce

packaging size and transport weight,

therefore reducing waste and the

carbon footprint of the product.

*Scope of data covers all sites where we have operational control, calculated using 2012

Guidelines to DEFRA / DECCs GHG Conversion Factors for Company Reporting, scope 1 and

scope 2. Ricardo-AEA has assured EE energy data within the scope CRC.

Our performance


Carbon emissions* Year-on-year absolute carbon reduction 5.19% 10%

Waste to landfill Year-on-year waste to landfill reduction 4.4% 10%

Our environmental data

Environmental data has been

measured to the GHG Protocol

Corporate Standard methodology,

while utilising the UK Government

(DEFRA 2012) provided

conversion factors. We have theexternally verified environmental

management standard ISO14001

across 100% of its sites. Our

corporate estate is accredited

to the Carbon Saver Standard

(CSS) for energy management

and we are members of the Global

e-Sustainability Initiative. We

will continue to make our annual

Carbon Reduction Commitment

legal report for our energy

consumption and to purchase

the required allowances.

0

200K

300K 280,873

2010 2011 2012

258,979

245,544

T

CO2

Annual carbon emissions



From games and videos, to chatrooms

and internet access, connectivity

offers our customers more and more

services. But as young people use more

of the services on offer, were aware

that parents and carers have concerns

about what their children are viewing

on the internet. From accessing

unsuitable content, to cyberbullying,

to stranger danger and most recently

sexting, we provide the tools and

education that enable families to lead

safe and secure digital lives.

Children spend more and more time

online, but simply blocking and banning

isnt the solution. We cant be sure

filters are in place on all devices the

child may use and this doesnt tackle

online safety issues such as strangersin online forums or cyberbullying.

We believe a combination of

technological solutions and education

and awareness for children, parents and

carers is required. This is the focus of

our Keeping children safe priority issue

area that is sponsored by Pippa Dunn,

Chief Marketing Officer.

We have content filters available on

all our devices and are the only mobile

operator to offer different levels of

filtering. We offer three options off,

light or on. Off allows full access to the

internet, light blocks over 18s content

but allows the user to access social

media, forums and chatrooms and on

blocks all over 18s and unmoderated

social media sites. This allows

parents to make the right choice

for their children.

The light filter setting is available to all

customers on EE, Orange and T-Mobile

and is the default setting for new

customers. On our fixed broadband, we

offer McAfee parental control software

to all customers.

We are also working as a sector and

with the Government to support a

number of self regulatory initiatives on

this issue. We are members of cross-

sector industry and governmental

working groups including:

> The Internet Watch Foundation

> The UK Council for Child

Internet Safety (UKCCIS)

And weve signed up to:

> The UK Code of Practice for the

Self Regulation of New Forms

of Content on Mobiles

We have also been actively involved

in discussions about active choice

which you can read more about on

the following page.

Were committed to providing products, educationand awareness to help families lead safe digital lives.

5. KEEPING CHILDREN SAFE



Our 2012 activityWith the launch of the new EE brand

we launched Digital Living web pages

www.ee.co.uk/digital-living which have

a dedicated Keeping children safe

section. This area has a range of tools

to enable parents to gain information

about the issues and engage with their

children through interactive resources.

These include an Advice for Parents

guide and e-safety films.

Our EE Digital Champions, who go

out in to the community to inspire

people to get online, are also trained on

e-safety and are able to provide tips on

keeping people safe as they start thier

online journey.

In 2012, we also introduced McAfeeprotection on all fixed broadband this

product is available free to customers

for the first year and includes anti-virus

and anti-spam filters as well as further

parental controls. It allows users in

the home to have different levels

of control depending on their age

and preferences.

Our 2013 plansWe are focusing on increasing

awareness of the issue among our

customers, especially parents and

carers, and increasing the uptake of

the tools and resources available.

We are achieving this by promoting

e-safety tools and information in the

retail environment and making our

Advice for Parents guide available in all

our stores. Were launching an e-safety

e-learning programme for our frontline

staff that will explain the issue and the

tools available, to ensure our people are

able to better support our customers.

Despite the common availability of

parental control software for fixed

broadband, only 5% of householdswith children have installed it.

Were determined to increase this

and have committed to delivering

monthly communications to our fixed

broadband customers to remind them

about the McAfee control tool and

educational resources that are

available to them.

We will also be rolling out an update

to the EE Broadband filter aimed at

improving the level of protection we

offer families by actively encouraging

parents to use the filters.

EEs involvement in thechild safety debate

EE is involved in discussions

at a government and industry

level regarding child safety. We

participate in the UKCCIS working

groups and have participated in

several Ministerial roundtables,led by the Department of

Culture Media and Sport and the

Department of Education.

In 2011, the Prime Minister

commissioned an independent

report by Reg Bailey, Chief

Executive of the Mothers Union,

into child safety. He recommended

effective parental controls for fixed

and mobile ISPs making it easier

for parents to block adult andage restricted material, meaning

customers have to make an active

choice at point of sale or

during set up.

In 2012 the Government issued

a statement requesting that all

ISPs offer easy to use parental

controls and encourage people

with children to switch them on.

We are working to make sure all

our consumer devices and servicesmeet these requirements.

Our performance

Child safety KPI 2012 performance 2013 target

Extent to which we engage ourcustomers in online safety across our

channels including retail and online

Ensure messaging on online safety isdelivered through five communicationtouchpoints including email, customer

website, online shop, in our stores andprint literature

2 5



We want our customers to understand

the products and services that they

receive from us. Its also fundamental

that our customers understand their

price plans and get the services

they need.

Pricing, billing and communication in

the mobile phone industry can seem

complicated. Across our industry,

operators offer an extensive range of

tariff options, at a range of prices, to

enable customers to choose a plan that

offers value and meets their needs.

This can sometimes be confusing for

customers and lead to complaints.

Ofcom opened an investigation

into Orange on mobile mis-selling

in September 2011 because of thehigh number of Orange complaints

compared with other networks. We

responded by establishing an internal

steering group, chaired by Jackie

OLeary, Chief Customer Officer.

Through this group, we audited the

business against Ofcoms requirements

related to sales and marketing

practices and we have given Ofcom

assurances about improvements in a

number of areas. A number of these

recommendations have already been

implemented, and we are making

more progress this year. The Ofcom

investigation closed in October 2012,

and the regulator decided not to take

any further action.

Its fundamental to us that were acting

responsibly towards our customers so

they trust us, join us and stay with us.

Clear communication and pricing is a

priority issue, co-sponsored by Marc

Allera, Chief of Sales and Stephen

Harris, Chief of Staff.

Our 2012 activityIn 2012, we established a project team

to work together and develop a 2013

action plan to drive improvement in this

area. We also implemented a number

of the recommendations of the Ofcom

audit including better monitoring and

reporting of sales processes, training on

responsible selling and improved point

of sale information.

In 2012, we launched a number ofnew price plans under our EE brand.

We made sure that these plans were

straightforward and clear and had

minimal risk of customers being

surprised by their bill. All our EE plans

include unlimited calls and texts and a

choice of data options for a set monthly

price. If a customer is close to reaching

their data limit (80%) they receive a

text message alerting them that they

have used 80% of their data and giving

them the option to buy further data for

a fixed price per bundle. If they choose

not to buy more data, we send them a

text when they reach 100% data usage.

This lets them know they have hit their

data limit and we will be disabling data,

meaning they are always in control of

their price plan.

On T-Mobile we offer Full Monty

plans, all of which include unlimited UK

internet and texts, and the top optionalso includes unlimited calls.

Its critical that the marketing and communicationwe deliver to our customers is clear and honest.

6. CLEAR COMMUNICATION

AND PRICING



Our 2013 plansOur focus for 2013 is to continue to

implement the recommendations that

Ofcom made following the audit.

We are also building responsibility

checks in to our proposition and

products development processes

to make sure social and ethical

considerations are included at the

development stage. This will ensure all

new propositions are assessed at an

early stage and amended if there are

any concerns.

We have already made significant

progress in improving our complaints

handling process. We have aligned the

process across our three brands and

are carrying out detailed analysis of our

customer complaints to understand

and improve the priority areas.

In 2013, we are carrying out a pricing

audit to make sure all our pricing plans

are clear and transparent. We are also

looking into how we can prevent fraud,

and protect our customers from fraud

and we are exploring ways of alerting

customers if they go out of bundle on

our T-Mobile pricing plans.

Our performance

Clear communication and pricing KPI 2012 performance 2013 target

Customer perception ofour practices

Number of pay monthlycomplaints to Ofcom

Q4 averageperformance0.2/1000

Quarterly target0.14/1000

Customer / stakeholder perception ofour advertising transparency

Number of ASA investigations 0 0



We know there are approximately

10 million people in the UK who have

some form of disability. Thats 18% of

the population. These people often

need additional support or tailored

products to get the most out of what

we offer.

We are at the early stage of our journey

to provide products and services

for those with disabilities. We made

significant progress in this area in 2012

and have laid a strong foundation for

activity in 2013.

This is a priority issue, sponsored

by Jackie OLeary, our Chief

Customer Officer.

Our 2012 activityKey activity in 2012 included

increasing participation in the

Disability Awareness training which

was developed in 2011 for our customer

and retail teams. The training covers

the challenges customers with

disabilities face and how we can best

support these customers. This training

was completed by 6000 members of

our customer-facing teams in the

last 18 months.

All of our stores are fitted with hearing

loops, clear signage and have a testing

facility in place. A member of our Safety

and Sustainability team also sits on

the National Lets Loop Group an

organisation that works to ensure best

practice and excellence in this area.

In launching the new EE web pages

we created a dedicated Digital for All

section on the Digital Living website

www.ee.co.uk/digital-living which

provides tips and information on the

best device and support for people who

have a specific accessibility need. The

pages are categories in to Helping you

see, Helping you hear and Dexterity

to make it easy to access the

relevant information.

We have available a number of devices

which are suitable for customers with

disabilities, including the iPhone which

has a number of accessibility tools. We

also offer a Doro device on our Orange

brand, which has been designed

specifically with the needs of disabled

and elderly customers in mind.

In 2012, we launched EE phone

simulators that let you explore the

phone online and learn about its

capabilities. You can try out the iPhone

5, HTC One XL and Samsung Galaxy SIII 4G. The simulators are like having an

expert in the room to show you how to

use all of the phones great features.

We recognise the importance of providing productsand services to support customers with disabilities.

7. SUPPORTING CUSTOMERS

WITH DISABILITIES



Our 2013 activityWe have developed a roadmap of

initiatives to tackle accessibility issues

at every stage of the customer journey.

Planned 2013 activity includes:

> Working with the Business

Disability Forum and our Employee

Voice Group on Disability (an

internal group which discusses

employee disabilities matters)

to refresh our disability training

> Training of all of our frontline

teams to ensure they are able to

offer specific support to customers

with accessibility requirements

> Conducting a full audit of retail

stores accessibility including store

layout, design, services, facilities

and employee knowledge

> Developing a close working

relationship with the Employee

Voice Group on Disability to gain

their views and develop our

activity in this area

> Raising awareness of the

services on offer to our customers

for example providing bills in

accessible formats

> Participating in the Business

Disability Forum Benchmark

to enable us to measure our

performance and identifyareas of improvement

Our performance

Supporting customerswith disabilities

KPI 2012 performance 2013 target

The level of training our frontlineemployees receive on supportingcustomers with disabilities

% of frontline employees who undergoDisability Awareness e-learning

39% 60%



EngagementWe believe that having employees who

feel happy about working here plays a

big part in this. This is not only great

for the employee, but also good for the

companys performance, through lower

attrition and fewer absences, as well

as improved customer engagement

and consequently improved

business performance.

We have a strong engagement strategy

and delivery plan. The strategy focuses

on eight different elements of the

employee experience, including My

Manager, My Team, Giving Something

Back and Leadership. The strategy is

led by the Heads of Engagement in

retail, corporate and customer areas

and overall accountability sits with ourChief of HR, Francoise Clemes.

To implement the plan, we have an

Engagement Forum which is made up

of Engagement Champions who are

senior directors representing the ten

EE directorates. This group meets on a

monthly basis to review performance

and to drive activity.

Each of the Engagement Champions

then holds monthly meetings with

their Local Engagement Committee

which is made up of a number of

individuals from that business area.

These committees decide which of

the eight elements they wish to focus

on and work together to develop

and implement improvement plans.

Members of the committees are then

required to engage their own teams

meaning that a dialogue is in place with

all employees.

We hold a bi-annual employee survey

to assess employee perception. The

results are presented to the Leadership

Team with scores broken down by

directorate. The scores are then

discussed in depth with each Chief andthe Local Engagement Committees

and used to develop the individual

directorate engagement plans.

We measure our success in two ways:

1. We use the Sunday Times Best

Companies to work for survey to

benchmark our journey to being a

best place to work. We are proud to

have come 18th in the 2013 list.

2. We carry out bi-annual employee

surveys to enable our employees to

share their views with us and use

the net promoter score as a key

measure in this. The net promoter

score is a measure of an employees

likelihood to recommend the

company to friends and family. We

wanted to achieve a positive net

promoter score by the end of 2012

and are delighted to say that we hit

this target.

We will continue to deliver the

engagement strategy through the

implementation of 2013 directorate

engagement plans.

Were committed to making EE a great place to workand believe having happy and motivated employees

plays a big part in this.

8. ENGAGING AND DEVELOPING

OUR EMPLOYEES

-26

Sept-10

-18

Apr-11

-12

Aug-11

-8

Feb-12

-2

Jul-12

-30

-25

-20

-15

-10

-5

0

5

10

15

20

Netpromoterscore

6

Nov-12

Employee survey results



DevelopmentOne of our eight engagement areas is

Personal Growth and were committed

to developing our people. In 2012 we

launched a number of new training

approaches that were tailored to

the needs of employees and teams.

We deliver slightly differing training

approaches across our business areas

to ensure our employees are developing

the specific skills they need to support

our customers.

Corporate employees

In our corporate areas, two of the

key programmes introduced were

Functional Academies and Talent

Mapping. Functional Academies are

specialised training that is tailored to

a function and employee levels withinthe function. In 2012, we launched

academies in our Human Resources,

Finance and Communications, and

Marketing functions.

We also launched our Talent Mapping

programme. It is designed to identify

the training

Documents

EE Responsibility Report 2012